[poll ballot]The Lightkeeper’s Daughters, by Jean Pendziwol, 4.5 stars

[NancyJ]

Note- there are 2 or 3 books with very similar titles.

I really enjoyed this book about a Canadian family that lived in a lighthouse on an island in the turbulent Lake Superior during the depression and WWII. We learn about the challenges and dangers they faced living on the lake, and also the pleasures of that life. The whole family learned how to help keep everything working. Elizabeth and Emily are sisters who are so close, they can communicate without words. Emily is a artist with some type of disability that renders her mute. This book is about family, duty, boat wrecks, storms, heartbreak, tragedy, babies, war, duty, and family secrets. There are plenty of twists and turns, perhaps one too many twists imo. The writing is expressive and evocative. When it was over, I immediately went back to the beginning to listen to more. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.

The story is related in the present day by Elizabeth, one of the daughters who is now nearly blind, living in a retirement home. She is sharing the story with a teenager who was caught spray-painting a wall on the property. (She is a foster child, which was an unexpected bonus for me.) Elizabeth’s brother dies in a boat wreck shortly after finding her fathers old journals, and she asks the girl to read them to her. Together they piece together the missing pieces of the story. I even learned how to repair a waterlogged book so that you can read the pages. (One of the steps involves freezing.) I really appreciated the growing relationship between these two characters.

[ShazM]

Thanks for the review. I've got this on my tbr pile but I'd forgotten why I picked it up. Now I'm going to move it up the list!

[Amy]

I read this a long time back - when it first came out. I believe I enjoyed it very much.